All in the mind.

A recent report suggests that for most people anti-depressant drugs work no better than placebos. This just reinforces my own view - I'm a firm believer in the "pull yourself together" approach. Depression is a mental state, and as such requires a mental solution. A pill may make you feel better, but will never solve the underlying problem, whatever that is. I think the results of the survey don't so much prove that pills don't have any effect, but rather that it is simply the thought that you are taking something that helps you - in other words, the improvement comes from within your own mind. To quote Shakespeare yet again: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves..."

Movers and shakers.

Enough with the "did the earth move for you" jokes. Yesterday's earthquake - tremor more like - just highlights how fortunate we are in this country that we don't suffer some of the extremes of Mother Nature's behaviour that other parts of the world do. In many ways this country, for all its faults and shortcomings, can indeed lay claim to being the "blessed plot" descibed by Shakespeare.

Enough to drive you to.....

Car-share lanes - what a waste of resources. And now it seems more money is to be spent on a new "smart" camera which can tell the difference between a real person and a dummy. Can I suggest that the money would be better spent on repairing all the pot-hole-ridden roads that we're forced to drive over. I know driving a car - particularly on your own - is now one of the new mortal sins, but car-share lanes, bus lanes, cycle lanes, speed bumps, traffic calming measures - it's a wonder we ever get where we're going!

English as she is spoke.

OK, OK, mea culpa - sort of. "Data" is of course the plural of datum, and therefore should take the plural form of the verb - the data are, rather than the data is. But I've always found that to be a bit pretentious, and the fact of the matter is that most people other than professional statisticians treat data as a singular noun, and that's what I do, even though I know it is strictly wrong. OK?

Can I have a P please, Bob?

There was a time, when I didn't really need them, when there were public toilets all over the place. Now I'm getting old, and my bladder is not what it was, you're hard pressed to find one, and even when you do, the state of them leaves much to be desired. So thank goodness for supermarkets, and I'm all for this idea of getting cafes, pubs and restaurants to permit passers-by to come in and use their toilets. To quote the Bard - for this relief much thanks.

A special day.

So, today's February 24th - just another date, right? Well, not really - not this year anyway. This is a leap year, and contrary to what you might think, the extra day in leap years is not February 29th, but today, the 24th. The reason's pretty complicated and goes back to ancient Roman times, but essentially the rule was (and theoretically, still is) that all official festivals and remembrances which in a normal year would take place on February 24th - 28th, are in a leap year, moved on a day to the 25th - 29th, so the 24th becomes the inserted day. Go on, amaze your friends! As my Gran used to say - no knowledge is ever wasted.

Monty Hall

You will have gathered from past posts that I have a keen interest in statistics and probability. I have no qualifications or specialised knowledge - just an interested amateur. The name of Monty Hall cropped up the other day, and his name is associated with a particular probability problem, which might entertain any of you who share my interest. This is a subject which may well take a series of posts to cover properly, so for starters, here's the problem -
You are the contestant in a game show. You have seen off all the other contestants, and are now alone going for the big prize, a top-of-the-range sports car. You are presented with three doors - call them A, B and C, and told the car is behind one of them. You are invited to pick a door. Let's say you choose Door A. The game-show host (Monty Hall) now opens one of the other two doors, say Door B, and shows that to be empty. He now says to you "Well, obviously the car is not behind Door B. It is therefore either behind Door A - the one you chose, or behind Door C. You may now change your mind if you wish. Do you want to open Door A and take whatever is behind there, or do you want to swop to Door C and take whatever is behind there?" You have been watching this game-show for months now, and have come to realise that Monty Hall will never open the door with the car behind it - after all, this would spoil the game. So, knowing all this, what is your best strategy? Should you stick with your original choice of door, swop to the other door, or doesn't it make any difference? More later.

Bobby dazzler

Cristiano Ronaldo was apparently dazzled by a laser beam from the crowd at Wednesday night's match against Lyon. Makes a change from him being dazzled by his own brilliance!

Say what you mean.

I don't wish in any way to belittle the recent events in Bridgend, and it certainly seems that there is something very worrying going on there, but I found myself getting extremely annoyed at one of the articles in yesterday's papers which expressed alarm at the recent incidence of teenage suicides in that area being "above average". Now think about it for a moment - by the very way in which averages are arrived at, there must by definition be data which exceeds the average, just as there must be data which is below the average - otherwise it wouldn't be the average, if you see what I mean. So such a statement is really pretty meaningless, except to indicate that the data falls at the higher or lower end of the scale - certainly doesn't mean that anything unusual is going on. Presumably what the writer intended to get across was that the number of suicides significantly exceeded the statistical norm - that is, what could reasonably be expected based on previous experience. Not the same thing at all.

Saint Delia.

It seems I may have to think again about my "Lazy Cook" series of posts, because it would appear that Delia Smith's new book "How To Cheat At Cooking" has stolen my clothes - or I have stolen hers, depending on which way you look at it. Not that I'm knocking Delia - my wife swore by her, and I have been left with a whole shelf of her books, which I dip into from time to time for information and ideas. After my wife died I came across her book "One is Fun" in a second hand shop, and that has proved a boon, dedicated as it is to recipes for the single eater. I would however take issue with the title - one is definitely NOT fun, Delia, but bless you all the same.